Upper Devonian Fishes from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)
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ACT A I' ,.\ L ,\ a 0 N T 0 ". L ,0 G I C A I' 0 LON IC . ,\ Vol . II 1957 No.4 JULIAN KULCZYCKI UPPER DEVONIAN FISHES FROM THE HOLY CROSS MOUNTAINS (POLAND) A bstract. - The present paper deals w ith fossil fish r emains (Placodermi, Elasmo branchii) from the Upper Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains. The following new fo'rms have been described: M al ero st eus gorizdroae n. gen., n. sp.; T omaiosteus flrossi n. gen., n. sp .: Dinichthys denisoni n. sp.; D. ceterus n. sp.; Titanichthys ko ilowsk ii n. sp., D eveonema obrucevi n. gen., n. sp.; Operchallosteus vialowi n. g an .. n. sp. ; AUenacanthus malkowskii n . gen., n. sp .; Sentacanthus zelichowsk ae n . gen., n. sp . The presence of D inichthys pusrutosus, D. cf. tuberculatus, Pachyosteus butia . H %nema radiatum, Anomalichthys ingens , Plourdosteus sp ., Oxyosteus sp., St eti ost eus? sp., Ctenacanthus sp. , as w ell as of som e detached teeth of Clado dus a nd Dittodus, has been recorded. On the base of the in vestigated material the a uthor agrees with the op in ion s postula ting th at in Bra ch ythoraci there has occured the disappearance ot dentine and its substitution by oss eous tissue. In the brachytho racids this process had taken place at a considerably ear lier evolutionary stage th an in th e Crossopterygii and the Dipnoi and it had. moreover. progress ed farther, having affected the jaw denticles to o. The structure of the parasphenoid in genus Pachyosteus, problems relating to the position of the gill slit, and ch anges in the outline of bones during ontogeny are discussed and some cursory remarks on the systematics of Brachythoraci are given. The final chapter contains notes on the stratigraphic distribution and geogr ap h ical range of the described c ra chyth oracid forms. INTRODUCTION This paper is concerned with .placodenm remains from Frasnian and Famennian deposits in the Holy Cross Mountains. In accordance with information published by J. Czamocki (1947), tW:J sedim en tation zones may be differentiated within the region of the Hol y Cross Mountains. Their boundary line runs approx imately conformably to the axis of the Kie1ce syncline. The northern Lysa Gora region differs from the sou th ern Kielce region in more complete development' of th e paleozoic series, in facial differences and in considerably greater thick ness of sediments which are frequently of Flysch character. All of the Upper Devonian fish material has been recovered from the Kielce region, namely from the localities of Wietrznia, Psie GOI1ki an d Kadzielnia, and from the village of Galezice lying south-west of Kielce. Nco Cl> ImmlHI FomennlOYl <D Kod zielru o ~ FrOSnIOl"l ® Ps ie ·Gorki f"7777] lower a. MIddle ~ I- rLLL.aDevonion \.,.../ w.etrzruo I'77'"""A Predev~n ia J'1 @ Cctezrce r.L..L.J deposirs Rutka ----. c.. ~ ~ t>: sc:: ~ o :>1 H Fig. 1. - Distribution of localities of fis h re m ains fi nds. Geolog y simplified. after a m a p by J . Czarne cki. Scale 1 : 100000. UPPER DEVONIAN l"ISHES 28 7 In the adjacent hills of Wietrznia and of Psie G6rki the Frasnian beds are similarly developed. They are represented here by layered limestones and thin layers of shales. The follow ing three horizons have been diffe rentiated by Czarnocki (1947 and 1950; see also Rozkowska, 1953) on the recorded brachiopod fauna: Upper Frasnian -" horizon III with Hypothyridina cuboides and Man ticoceras intum escens, Middle Frasnian - horizon II with Hypot hyridina coronula, Lower Frasnian - horizon I with Hy poth yridina procubo ides. The specimens of fishes h ave 'been recovered Irorn all Frasnian hor i zons iJn the Wietrznia hill. In Psie G6r1ki the fishes h ave b een yield ed by horizon III only. In the Kadzielnia hjll are d eveloped th e three Frasnian horizons and a considerable part of th e Famennian. The Lower and Middle Frasnian beds consist here of reef lim estones.F ish remains have been found in Upper Frasnian and Famennian beds only. The Upper Frasnian here is developed as thick bedded limestones w ith Hypothyridina cubouie s and Man ticoceras in tum escens. The Lower and Upper Frasnian consist of shales and m arls with a fauna of cephalopods represented by the genera Cheiloceras and Tornoceras. In the fourth locality situated at the village of Galezice (about 15 km to the south-west of Kielce) there are no Frasnian or Lower Famennian beds. Upper Famennian beds, reduced to a thickness of 3 to 4 m, rest di rectly on the Givetian . They are represented by limestones from horizons containing Prolobites, Platyclym enia, Orthoclym enia, Goniocl ymenia, and Wocklumeria, the latter underlying Carboniferous. d eposits. ... The material descr ibed in the present paper is composed of two different collections: 1) the specimens collected b y the 'late J. Czarnecki before the w ar and par tly d estroyed through war activities. This collection is housed in the Geological Institute (I. G.) in Warsaw; 2) the specimens collected b y ·th e lat e P rof. Z.Gor izdro-Kulczyoka and by the p resent author b etween th e years 1947 to ).952 on beh alf of the Muzeum Zi emi (Museum of t he Eae th) in Warsaw. Work at further enla rgement of the collection was con tinued by the w riter during 1953 to 1955 on behalf of the Paleozoological Ins titute of the P olish Ac ad em y of Sciences in Warsaw. This collection is housed in the Mus eum of the Earth (IVI. Z.) in Warsaw. The material was mostly p repared by treatment in acetic acid and .satu ration in paraffin. Before being photographed the specimens were whitened with ammonium chloride. 288 JULIAN K ULCZY CKI The labor atory work has been carried out in th e years 1953- 1956 ,at the P al eozoological Institute of the P olish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw . Throughout the investigation m ost helpful advice and assistan ce were given to the w riter b y the H ead of the ab ove m en tioned Ins titute, Prof. Roman K ozlow ski. In the course of the f ield work the m ost fr iendly kindness and h e1p w ere sh ow n to the w ri ter by the Managers of the Museu m of the Earth - Prof. 81. Malkowski and P rof . A. H a'lickD. Dr. M. Zeli chowska, ch ief of th e Dep artment of D ocumentat ion o f th e Geolog ical Ins titu te in Wairsaw , has provid ed the autho r witlh the OIPiPOII' tunity for studying t!he specimens in h er charge. In 1955 and 1956 the au tho r spen t two mon ths at the Geol.-Pal eonto logical Institute of the Humboldt Un iversity in Berlin. Prof. W. Gross h as prov ided the au thor with the Iaci lities for s tud y in g at this In st itute and offered very useful criticis m. Much valuabl e in form ation and advi ce w as obtained by the writer, in the way of correspondance, from P rof. D. V. Obruchev of Moscow and Dr R. H. Denison of Chicag o. Mi ss A. Illner , the libr arian of the Paleontological Institute of the Hum boldt University in Berlin, has taken pains in supply in g t he au thor with th e required literature. The ac com panying p hotographs have b een taken by Miss M. Czarnocka . The paper has been transl ated by Mrs. J. Hum n icka. To all these p erson s the w riter w ishes to expr ess h is deep es t gra titude. DES C RIP T I ONS · Order Arthrodira Infraor der Br ach ythoraci Genus Pl'ourd osteus 0rvig, 1951 Plourdosteus sp . (pI. I, fig.I , 2) MateriaL - A fragmentary p osterior ventro late ral and a comp lete marginal (pI. I, fig. 1). T hese t wo elemen ts were fo und lying beside one another on a sm all rock fr agment and d isplay a sim ilar ornamentatio n pattern suggesting their appurte nance to th e same individ u al. Description . - P osterior ventrolateral relatively larg e, the p rese rved frag ment bei ng 38 mm long and 28 mm wide . Its an ter ior lateral por tion shows the base of a br ok en off process, w hich in this genus is commonly connected with the p oster ior l ateral. The ou ter surface dens el y cover ed ,by minute tubercles , som ew hat larger al on g the m argin, more so in the: posterior p ortion. The associated marginal is markedly s m all. Its shape (pl. I, fig . 1) indicates th at it was not united with the central. th is being UPPER DEVONIAN FISHES 289 a characteristic feature of genus Plourtiosteus. The course of su ture wi th ' th e postorbital and the paranuchal show the same in de ntures as in Plourdosteus tr autscholdi (Eas tma n) (Obruceva, 1954, fig . 1), except for the side edge being more arched so that on the w hole the marginal is more quadrangular . Th e width of this ele ment measured from the poin t of juncture with the postorbital and the paranuchal is 15 mm. The same is its maximum length measured normally to the line. ~ f the p revious dimens ion. The sensory line groove transversing the m argin al produces a rather sharp bend from w hich branches off a blind ramification.